II.

Land and Resources

Tunisia has a long coastline that extends about 1,150 km (about 710 mi) along the Mediterranean Sea. The coast is indented by many harbors and inlets. Tunisia’s largest cities are located along the eastern coast.

A narrow region of plains skirts Tunisia’s northern and eastern coasts. The Atlas Mountains lie behind the plains on the north, extending from Tunisia’s western border with Algeria to northeastern Tunisia. When the Atlas ranges reach the Mediterranean Sea, they form peninsulas, leaving bays between. Cape Bon is the most prominent of these peninsulas, and the Bay of Tunis north of it is a sheltered harbor.

Peaks in the Atlas range in elevation from about 600 to 1,500 m (about 2,000 to 5,000 ft). Fertile valleys and plains are interspersed among the mountains. Forests of evergreens and oaks blanket the mountain slopes. The country’s only major river, the Majardah, crosses the mountain zone from west to east and empties into the Gulf of Tunis.

To the south the mountains give way to a plateau. Coarse grass covers much of the plateau. The plateau slopes down to a basin that forms a depression across central Tunisia. Shallow salt lakes, known as shatts or chotts, fill this basin. Several of these lakes lie below sea level. The shatts adjoin the Sahara, which covers about two-fifths of the country’s total land area.

A.

Climate

Northern Tunisia has a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. At Tunis the average annual rainfall of 610 mm (24 in) occurs mostly between October and April. Temperatures in the north average 9°C (48°F) in January and 26°C (78°F) in July. Toward the south the climate becomes progressively hotter and drier. Annual rainfall is only about 200 mm (about 8 in) in the Sahara. But this is enough to support grass and shrubs for grazing sheep and goats.

B.

Plant and Animal Life

The fertile, well-watered regions of the north are characterized by flourishing vineyards and by dense forests of cork oak, pine, and juniper trees. Oranges and other citrus fruits are grown in the northeast. To the south, olive trees become increasingly prominent. Farther south on the plateau, the semiarid conditions support a steppe vegetation dominated by wild grasses, notably esparto grass, and a wide variety of shrubs. In the arid regions of the extreme south, date palms flourish in oases.

Among the wildlife found in the country are hyena, wild boar, jackal, gazelle, and hare. Several varieties of poisonous snakes, including cobras and horned vipers, are also present.

C.

Mineral Resources

Petroleum is Tunisia’s principal mineral resource. Reserves exist both offshore and on land, particularly in the south, and important new deposits were discovered in the early 1980s. Other mineral resources include natural gas, phosphates, iron ore, lead, and zinc.

D.

Environmental Issues

Water is scarce in Tunisia, and drought is common. Population growth has led to increased demand for farmland. As agricultural production has increased, so have marginal land use and overgrazing, resulting in extensive soil erosion and desertification. Only a small portion of the country’s total land area is forested. The government has approved a tree-planting program to combat deforestation.

Tunisia does more to treat sewage than many of its neighbors, but untreated urban sewage is still a problem, contaminating water supplies and causing eutrophication (the growth of oxygen-depleting plant life) in Mediterranean waters. In rural areas, only about half the population had access to adequate sanitation by the late 1990s. In addition, toxic wastes from industrial processes are not disposed of effectively, presenting human health risks.

Only a small percentage of the country’s land area is protected in parks or nature preserves. Ichkeul National Park, in northern Tunisia, protects a lake and the surrounding wetlands that serve as a resting area for hundreds of thousands of migrating birds, including ducks, geese, and pink flamingos.

The government of Tunisia has ratified international environmental agreements pertaining to biodiversity, climate change, desertification, endangered species, environmental modification, hazardous wastes, marine dumping, ozone layer protection, ship pollution, and wetlands.